NEW DELHI: As the government focuses on positioning India as a number one world cruise vacation spot, the house ministry has launched e-group go to visa (cruise) for overseas vacationers arriving in India on cruise vessels which comply with a hard and fast and predetermined itinerary.The nationals of all 172 nations presently eligible for e-tourist visa can avail of the devoted e-group go to visa for cruise journey. The latter will authorise the overseas nationals arriving on cruise ships to enter India from any of the 38 designated e-visa enabled seaports. The e-group go to visa (cruise) can have a validity of 30 days and permit a number of entry.The cruise operator or agent of the vessel might want to submit the applying for e-group go to visa for worldwide passengers by way of the desired portal or cellular app, three days earlier than berthing of the vessel on the first Indian port. No contemporary software shall be accepted past this cut-off.There isn’t any restrict on the variety of vacationers allowed on an e-group go to visa (cruise), residence ministry sources instructed TOI. The main points of the overseas passengers — title, nationality, passport quantity and subject/expiry date, and many others — might be uploaded in bulk on the desired portal (
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indianvisaonline.gov) or cellular app.The e-group go to visa shall include a QR code. Passengers might use this QR code at immigration checkpoints on the port of entry and for additional journey inside India, as per the fastened cruise itinerary.“Simpler visa and immigration procedures will encourage worldwide cruise corporations to incorporate Indian ports of their itineraries. This may also generate wider financial advantages for ports, motels, eating places, transport operators, touring companies and native communities,” stated an MHA official.The govt. has, since 2024, launched two main initiatives to spice up cruise tourism in India, given the good potential that the nation’s 7,500-km shoreline and a community of 110 navigable waterways connecting 400 rivers, presents, as per a PIB assertion issued in April final yr. The primary initiative is Cruise Bharat Mission, launched in September 2024 with the purpose of doubling the cruise site visitors in India by 2029 (from 4.7 lakh in 2024 to virtually 10 lakh in 2029). Additionally, the Maritime India Imaginative and prescient 2030 goals to make the nation a major participant within the world cruise market, overlaying oceanic and coastal cruises, island and infrastructure growth and river and inland cruises.